


did we ever see it coming, will we ever let it go?

by yegelsecaller



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, First Time, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Healing, I Thought You Died Sex, Light Angst, One Shot, Reylo - Freeform, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer, TROS Speculation Fic, That's Not How The Force Works, Yup this turned into a TROS fix it, reference to major character death, sexual healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 23:06:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21026231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yegelsecaller/pseuds/yegelsecaller
Summary: “We are buried in broken dreams.We are knee deep without a plea.I don't want to know what it's like to live without youDon't want to know the other side of a world without you.”In which Rey and Kylo wake up on opposite sides of a battlefield after working together to defeat Palpatine. Angst and sexual healing (!) ensue.





	did we ever see it coming, will we ever let it go?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [diasterisms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diasterisms/gifts).

> What can I say - with the new promotional material HOPEFULLY coming out soon, I felt it was only fitting that my first fic would be for me to throw in my two cents about how I think TROS should end. Also, I had to dedicate it diasterisms because she is the reason I got into Reylo fic and the reason I decided to give writing my own a shot <3
> 
> Inspired by Ruelle’s “The Other Side”

***

Rey’s arms dropped to her side as she fought to catch her breath. The last stormtrooper had fallen, and as she looked out over the smoky orange horizon, she realized that it was finally over. They’d defeated Palpatine and driven back his troopers, saving the last spark of hope that was the Resistance.

_They’d._

_They’d driven back Palpatine and his army. Together._

Rey’s heart stopped as she realized she had no idea where Kylo was. Despite everyone’s warnings not to trust him, she’d followed what the Force had been nudging her to do for months. She’d joined Forces with him knowing that a far greater evil than Kylo Ren lurked in the depths of the decaying Death Star. After months of ignoring the pull of the Force bond, Rey had finally given in and let him reach out to her when she realized that unless they worked together, Palpatine would succeed in his plan to wrench control of the galaxy back into his hands.

At first, she had been cold towards him. How could she not, after everything he’d done? The first time she had put her trust in him, he had betrayed her by asking her to turn on everything she stood for. But as the months of secretly training together wore on, she began to see him in a different light. Here was a man who had been fighting the influence of the dark side since he was in his mother’s womb. It didn’t excuse the atrocities he’d committed, but it did explain them. The more she worked with him, the more she saw that underneath the mask of Kylo Ren, Ben Solo was desperately trying to claw his way into the light.

As they worked together, she had seen him…soften, somehow. Like when he was with her, he could finally let the mask fall. In turn, she had felt her resolve to defeat Palpatine strengthen. She knew what she had seen when they had touched hands on Ahch-To, and despite Snoke’s cold admission that he had bridged their minds, Rey didn’t, _couldn’t,_ believe that he had influenced what each of them had seen. Her vision had been strong and clear, and that vision saw them standing together, far into the future. As she looked around and failed to find him on the battlefield, her stomach sunk at the thought that such a future may no longer exist.

***

Kylo’s eyes opened, fighting to see through the dirt and blood that had accumulated during the battle. As his vision cleared, all he could see above him was smoke and the burnt orange sky of the setting suns. He struggled to pull himself to a sitting position and winced as his old bowcaster wound twinged with fresh pain.

As he surveyed the battlefield, he realized with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that the last time he’d seen Rey, she had been locked in combat with three of Palpatine’s troopers. She was strong, stronger than she knew, but even Rey had her limits. They had both been fatigued after the skirmish in the Death Star. After Kylo’s vision of Rey turning to the dark side under Palpatine’s influence, they had agreed to close the bond to protect themselves. But right before they had thrown up their defences, he had felt her weariness seeping through the bond.

He wrinkled his brow as he tried to clear his memory. Had she escaped before he’d gone down? He had tried to call out to her, to warn her that Palpatine had only been injured in their skirmish, but before he could speak, he had been taken from behind by a blaster bolt. 

Groaning, he pulled himself to his feet and began to walk towards the hidden Resistance base. They didn’t trust him, but they were his best chance of finding out what had happened to Rey. As they had trained together to ready themselves for the impending battle, he had grown accustomed to feeling her presence through the bond, and it unsettled him more than he cared to admit not to feel her there now.

***

“Rey!”

The sound of her name ringing across the battlefield broke Rey from her reverie, and as she turned around, she saw Finn and Poe pull up to her on a hovercraft. Breathing a sigh of relief, she ran to them and they pulled her into an embrace.

“What happened?” Poe asked as they pulled away from the embrace. “You’re injured.”

“Palpatine’s gone. He’s gone,” Rey replied wearily, not sure whether she was still referring to Palpatine.

Suddenly, Finn’s expression turned cold as he looked out over Rey’s shoulder. Instinctively, Rey ignited her lightsaber, expecting to see more of Palpatine’s troopers. What she saw instead caused relief to catch in her throat as she realized she had stopped breathing. Far in the distance, a lone figure in black was walking slowly, _too slowly_, towards the Resistance base. Finn scowled and started to walk towards the figure, but Rey grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Finn, you don’t understand. He helped us. He’s the reason that I’m still alive.”

Finn frowned. “Rey, you need to rest. You’re injured. You just fought and defeated _Palpatine. _You don’t have to handle this on your own.”

Rey rubbed her temples, trying to find a way to describe what over a year of living with the bond had taught her about Kylo Ren. About Ben Solo. But try as she might, she simply couldn’t find the words to describe what she had come to feel about the man she had once seen as no more than a monster beneath a mask. Despite their differences, he was her match and her equal in every way. Knowing she could never explain this to Finn in the span of her moment, she instead turned away from him and started to run towards the figure heading for the base.

***

As Kylo walked towards the Resistance base, he realized that with Leia gone, there was a good chance they would simply shoot him on sight when they saw him coming. Strangely, he felt no regret at the thought. Although he had helped Rey defeat Palpatine, the Resistance didn’t know that, and one good deed certainly didn’t atone for over a decade of atrocities he’d committed.

As he continued resolutely towards the base, the wound in his side now freely bleeding, he looked up and saw a small figure in sand-coloured clothing running towards him. _Rey. _He breathed out heavily. _She was alive. _Suddenly, fatigue and pain washed over him, and he sank to his knees with relief that even if he wouldn’t, she would live on.

As she reached him, tears running down her face, he looked up at her and smiled for what felt like the first time since he had seen the vision of them standing together. “Rey,” he breathed again. “You’re alive.”

She knelt to meet him, her eyes widening as she took in the extent of his injuries. “When I looked up after fighting Palpatine, I couldn’t see you.” She exhaled. “I’ve never felt so alone as when I stood on that battlefield thinking you were gone.”

He reached up and brushed a stray tear from her cheek with his now gloveless thumb. “You’re not alone. You were never alone.”

“Neither were you. You have a place with me. With the Resistance. After everything you’ve done…” She trailed off, trying to find the words to express the gratitude she felt for the sacrifices he had made to save them. To save _her._ “You don’t have to hide anymore.”

Kylo smiled sadly. “Rey, you know as well as I do that I can’t go back with you. You know they would never allow it.”

“Ben, I’m not leaving here without you.”

He coughed, closing his eyes and his hand going to his side. “I don’t think you have a choice.”

Rey’s eyes blurred as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his temple, the dark hair curled there tickling her lips. “Ben Solo, I will not let you die. Not now. Not now that you finally have the chance to live free from pain.”

As his breath began to slow, Rey placed her hands on the wound on his side and began to breathe deeply as she called on the Force to aid her. She instinctively knew that she could use the Force to heal his wounds, but if she was being honest, she had no idea what she was doing. As she breathed deeply and stretched her mind out to feel the balance of life and death, ash and rocks began to rise around her. In the distance, Finn and Poe saw a cloud of glowing dust rise and start to spin, faster and faster until they could no longer make out the figures within it.

Rey took in one final, deep breath and _pushed_ with her mind. Suddenly, Kylo gasped and twitched, the wound on his side slowly starting to knit back together. Rey heaved another breath, exhausted from the effort of bringing him back from the brink of death.

“I’m not strong enough to heal you completely. We need to get you back to a bacta-tank and Dr. Kalonia before the wound opens again. Can you walk?"

Kylo looked up at her in awe. Stars, she was beautiful. Had she just _Force-healed _him? Nodding silently, he brought himself slowly back to his feet, and leaning on Rey for support, they began the slow walk back to the base.

* * *

Rey sat with her head in her hands, watching Kylo’s chest rise and fall on the infirmary bed. She’d refused to leave his side since entering the base, not trusting that he wouldn’t immediately be taken prisoner the moment she left him. The first few hours had been touch-and-go. While she’d managed to bring him back from the brink of death, it hadn’t meant he was out of the woods, and it had taken all of Dr. Kalonia’s skill to save him. Now he was resting peacefully, but Rey couldn’t sleep knowing that just hours ago, he had been dying in her arms.

Suddenly, his breathing changed, and his eyes opened slowly. Rey jumped to her feet and rushed over to the bed as he regained consciousness. Tears gathering in her eyes at the sight of him finally waking, she perched on the edge of the bed and held his hand.

“Rey,” he drowsily inquired, “Where are we?”

“We’re in the infirmary,” she replied, gently pushing him back down as he tried to sit. “And don’t think I’m letting you leave yet. You almost died. You need to rest.”

“I can’t stay here,” he started to protest. “You know I can’t.”

Rey sighed. “I know. But I thought that if I stayed with you until you healed, we could leave until things…settled a bit. Now that the First Order and Palpatine have been defeated, the Resistance finally has the chance to rebuild. We could…start over. ”

Struggling to find the words he needed to convey everything he was feeling, he reached up to cup her face with his palms. His hands were so large that they completely enveloped her face, and as he pulled her head down to his, she breathed a sigh of relief as their lips finally met. His lips were soft, almost achingly so, and his hand moved to the base of her skull to pull her closer. As the kiss deepened, she felt the Force bond begin to open again, and her pulse quickened as she began to feel his own emotions seep through the bond. His tongue gently nudged her lips apart, and suddenly she no longer cared about where they were. He was alive, gloriously alive, and that hum of life through the bond was all that mattered.

***

Rey was _perfect. _While the kiss had started tenderly, he was now frantic to feel _more _of her. They had come so close to losing each other again, and he knew that he couldn’t go another day without feeling her around him. Gently, his hands moved to her slender hips and he pulled her so that she was now straddling his. She whimpered and _pressed_ herself closer to him and it was all he could do to stop himself from coming right then and there. 

“Need you,” he panted, “Need to feel you.” He felt her toes curl at his thighs as her hipbones pressed even closed to his abdomen.

She gasped. “Please, Ben. Do it. I have an implant, and I haven’t…I haven’t been with anyone else.”

“Neither have I, Rey. It’s always been you.”

Slowly, he pulled her tunic and pants aside, as she deftly pulled him free from his hospital gown. He could cry with how good she already felt, and as he gently entered her, he wondered how it took them so long to realize they were each other’s match.

At first, he moved slowly, instinctively knowing that too much too soon would hurt her. But Rey would none of it, and she leaned into him, taking him deeper with each rock of her hips.

“Rey,” he groaned, pulling her closer. “Cyar’ika.”

As she moved above him, he began to feel pure _light _emanating from her, and the bond practically _sang_. Somehow, his body started to feel lighter, younger, and as they came apart together, he swore he could feel _her _spilling into him, the Force an elixir for every wound he had ever known.

***

Afterwards, Rey rested with her head curled against his chest, the feeling of its rise and fall a gentle relief after almost losing him. Somehow, she had healed him not once, but _twice_ using the Force. She didn’t know how they would convince the Resistance to let him stay without taking him prisoner, but for now, she was able to bask in the afterglow, a quiet bliss spreading out from head to toe. She knew it wasn’t too late for him, and she would spend the rest of her days fighting to find him a place where neither of them would ever have to feel alone again.


End file.
